The festive season has arrived in Gisborne’s city centre with the installation of the big Christmas tree above the Hospice Shop on the corner of Peel St and Gladstone Rd this morning.
The festive season has arrived in Gisborne’s city centre with the installation of the big Christmas tree above the Hospice Shop on the corner of Peel St and Gladstone Rd this morning.
Gisborne’s big Christmas tree, standing 7 metres tall, is overlooking the CBD from its traditional location at the Peel St and Gladstone Rd intersection after being raised into position at 6am today .
Gisborne District Council’s Wooden Christmas Tree Project manager Ken Huberts, who is responsible for the large CBDtree and the 60 small wooden trees decorated by primary school students and distributed to retailers to display outside their premises, said the tree looked great.
“The big tree signals the beginning of Christmas,” Huberts said. “Even with the passing motorists – there were so many smiles when they saw the Christmas tree."
Fulton Hogan staff member James Ward told the Gisborne Herald he enjoyed working when the Christmas tree was being installed in the CBD and always asked to be allocated to the job.
The company is responsible for traffic management at the site.
Gisborne's CBD Christmas tree is a Chinese kitset model, which was brand new last year. It stands two metres taller than its predecessor.
Huberts said crane suppliers Stone Transport and Hiab Ltd turned up at 5.30am, earlier than he had anticipated, and transported the tree from Property Brokers, where it had been assembled over the previous few days.
The tree was raised above the Hospice Shop first while the star was raised separately and placed on top of the tree.
“We had some had some problems with the star last year.”
Huberts said the decorated wooden cut-out and primed Christmas trees created a festival spirit downtown.
“When you’re walking down the street, you can’t really see into [shop] windows. Because the trees are on the street and you can see them all lined up, you almost wander from one to the next.”
Huberts had only picked up a few completed trees from schools when the Gisborne Herald spoke with him, but he said they looked amazing.
“I say that every year, but I’m [once again] gobsmacked. After 12 years, I get 60 unique and different trees every year.”
Huberts has been responsible for Gisborne’s big Christmas tree for “close to 20 years” - dating back to when he was city manager at Heart of Gisborne - and the small wooden primary school trees for 12 years.
Despite living in Te Awamutu for the past two and a half years, he’s happy travelling back to Gisborne for the Christmas tree contract.
The two jobs required about the same amount of time and could be done at the same time of the year, he said.
Gisborne District Council’s contracted Wooden Christmas Tree Project manager Ken Huberts is a happy man after the installation of the large Christmas tree in the CBD early Thursday morning.
“But it’s [all] about the smiles on the kids’ faces,” said Huberts. “They want to know where their tree is going. The feedback we get is that the kids just really love going into town looking for their tree.
“That brings me back ... I struggle for words, really. It’s a fun project. It touches so many people, that’s why I do it.
